


A Promise Lives

by phantomphan28



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Everybody Lives, M/M, TW: Suicide, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 23:33:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomphan28/pseuds/phantomphan28
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, an elf and a dwarf fell in love. A sorcerer, jealous of their love, sent the elf to his death, with the dwarf following close behind. In secret, a spell was cast, and the souls were reborn: the dwarf, hidden among his people, and the elf in the last place anyone would think to look.</p>
<p>Thousands of years later, a hobbit and a dwarf fall in love, and history runs a risk of repeating itself...</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Promise Lives

Rain crashed against the walls of the mountain fortress of Erebor. Any sane creature would have retreated into the impenetrable stone walls long ago, safe from the freezing rain and howling wind. Only two creatures walked now in the tempest: one relentlessly climbing to Erebor’s highest precipice, the other pursuing as fast as his legs could carry him, pausing for only the briefest of moments to catch his breath and call for the other.

The climber, an elf, continued on, heedless of the cries that followed him. Every step was sure and steady, yet the elf’s eyes were vacant and glassy, like a doll’s eyes. Yet he continued on, as if drawn by some unseen force. Slowly the downpour slowed to a drizzle, then a mist, then nothing at all as the elf reached Erebor’s highest parapet.

The elf’s steps did not falter as he approached the edge of the precipice, and was about to take his last step off the mountain, when a breathless voice cried out.

“Tamsin! Tamsin, stop!”

The elf turned and faced his pursuer, a dwarf with hair like coal and eyes like a summer storm. The dwarf’s chest heaved slightly for breath, but his gaze never left the elf’s empty eyes. He held out his hand to the elf, slowly approaching.

“Tamsin, listen to me. You don’t have to do this. We will find a way to fix this.” The tiniest of smiles graced the dwarf’s face. “We don’t need them. We don’t need anyone. We can run away together, just like we planned. We will build our own kingdom, far from those who would keep us apart.”

Barely a yard of space separated them now. The dwarf stopped and gazed at the elf with love (and thinly-veiled worry) in his eyes. “But I can’t do it alone, _gimlel_. I need you by my side, as I’ve always needed you. Please, come with me.”

For a moment, life flickered in the elf’s eyes. He reached out his hand to the dwarf, and breathed out two words in a voice laced with fear.

“Help me.”

Without warning, the elf took one last step back, and fell from the cliff. The dwarf’s eyes widened with horror and he leaped to grab him, but he was too late.

“TAMSIN!”

He heard a faraway, sickening _crack!,_ and stared down from the cliff at the elf’s broken body at the base of the Lonely Mountain. His heart stuttered and he sank to his knees, broken and numb.

Voices were calling for him now, voices he half-recognized. They were growing ever closer, but he could not bring himself to answer. All he could see was Tamsin’s empty eyes and broken body. All he could hear was his last plea for help, and the echoing sound of his body crashing to the ground below.

Someone was shaking his shoulder now. Someone he knew. Someone important.

“Prince Dwari!”

He lifted his gaze from the grisly sight below to face his father’s advisor, whose face was etched with worry.

“Dwari, what’s happened? Where’s Tamsin? Why are you—“

With realization, he looked over the cliffs himself. The elder dwarf pulled away with a gasp of horror.

“Mahal have mercy!” he breathed.

The elder dwarf looked over at the younger and clasped a gnarled hand to his shoulder, steering him away from the edge. “Come away from there now, lad. There’s nothing more you can do for him.”

The dwarf prince was eased to his feet, and the elder dwarf began to lead him back to the fortress gates. The prince pulled away and stepped to the cliff’s edge, a hollow sadness in his eyes. He gazed down at the fallen elf, tears pricking his eyes.

“Dwari?” the elder called.

A single tear slipped down the prince’s face as he stared at the ground below, and what it contained.

“Tamsin.” He whispered. He closed his eyes and, with Tamsin’s face etched in his mind’s eye, took his last steps off of Erebor.

“DWARI, NO!”

The wind whistled past his ears as he fell, and he knew no more.

* * *

 

News spread urgently through the halls of Erebor, and dwarven guards raced to the foot of the mountain, clinging to the vain hope that the prince still lived. The gates swung open, and the rescue party surged out, only to find a company of elves waiting outside.

“Why have you come here, Lord of the Greenwood?” the dwarf king asked, having followed the guards outside.

“One of my guardsmen was seen coming here, oh King Under the Mountain. I have come to reclaim him.”

“Then you have come too late, elf king. Your guard is dead, fallen from the mountainside.”

The elf king went pale. “And where does he lay?”

“At the mountain’s base. We go there now.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, the elf king ran past the dwarf to where the body lay. With horror-stricken eyes, he saw that someone else had found the corpses first. An elf child knelt next to the bodies, uncomprehending what he saw.

“Tamsin?” he called. “Tamsin, why are you sleeping like that? Get up!” He shook Tamsin’s shoulder, then brushed some of the fallen elf’s chestnut hair out of his eyes, his pale fingers coming back sticky with blood. “Tamsin, you’re hurt. You need a healer. Tamsin, answer me!”

The elf king rushed to the child’s side and pulled him close. “Do not go near them, my son. Look away!”

“No.” The dwarf king rasped, his face a stony mask. “Let the child gaze upon death.”

Mustering up his courage, the child pulled himself from his father’s grasp, and turned to look upon the broken bodies that lay there. The dwarf’s eyes were closed, as if he were sleeping, but the elf’s eyes were slightly opened, showing the moonlight that shone lifelessly off them.

“Mark,” the dwarf king growled, “and remember.”

The elf child’s face betrayed no emotion now, but inside his heart was breaking for the elf he once called friend. No, he would never forget. Not as long as he drew breath.

* * *

 

“But it’s perfectly obvious! The elf’s body _reeks_ of black magic!”

Deep within Erebor, a council had been called by the kings, to plan what was to be done next. The bodies had been laid in the tombs, until the elf could be returned to his people, and the elf child had been put to bed.

“But who would murder an elf?” the elf king asked. “To die in battle is one thing, but murder is unheard of!”

“Among decent folk, perhaps, but to a sorcerer…” One dwarf trailed off.

“And what motive could there be for such an act?”

“The oldest motive there is.” The dwarf king replied, as other voices fell silent. “Jealousy. Revenge for an imagined slight.”

“But then why disguise it as suicide? What would be the point?”

“To throw suspicions away from the sorcerer, of course!” Chimed in another dwarf.

“There’s no point in searching now.” The elf king murmured. “Whoever is responsible will be long gone.”

“It isn’t fair.” One elf sniffled. “They were so young…”

“Nothing can be done for them now. It is over.” groused a dwarf guard, annoyed at the slander aimed at the dead prince. In love with an elf. Pah! What nonsense!

“Maybe.” Replied the dwarf king’s advisor. “Then again, maybe not.”

“What do you mean?” the dwarf king asked. “Speak up!”

The advisor sat straighter, as all eyes turned to him. “There is one thing we might try, for their sakes. Within the libraries of Erebor, there is a book of spells. One of those spells causes a soul to be reborn into another life, with no memory of the past one. If we cast it on the two young ones, perhaps they might get a second chance!”

“But that sort of magic… it just isn’t natural!” One elf protested.

“Do you have a better idea?”

“But what if the sorcerer catches on? Then this will happen all over again!”

“Not if we hide one of the souls somewhere else.” The dwarf king replied. “Somewhere no one would think to search.”

“But where?”

“Among another race, perhaps?” The elf king offered. “Would you search for a dwarf soul in the race of men?”

“My son remains with his people!” the dwarf king snarled. “Let your elfling hide among men!”

“I would not disgrace him so!”

“I have an idea…” A younger dwarf chimed in.

“Nobody wants to listen to you, boy!” Snapped an older dwarf.

“I would like to hear it.” Countered an elf.

“As I said, nobody.”

The arguments began to build in volume, threatening to shake the very walls of the fortress. Hands began to reach for weapons, and it seemed that more might die that night, when suddenly—

“EVERYBODY, BE QUIET!”

Silence fell as all looked up to the advisor now standing on the table. “Now, if we can all agree to stop acting like children for a few moments, we might actually solve this.” He climbed down from the table and patted the young dwarf on the shoulder. “Now, what were you saying, laddie?”

The young dwarf cleared his throat and looked around nervously. “Th-there’s a place in the west. A-a sort of people. They’re small, almost unknown. Where better to hide the souls then there?”

“That’s terribly vague, boy. Is that all you know?”

“Only this: I think they call it the Shire.”

* * *

 

The proposition was put to vote, and it was agreed that the souls be hidden separately. Dwari would be hidden with the dwarves, and Tamsin would be hidden with the curious folk in the west. In whispered tones, the spell was cast, and lights rained down from the heavens.

Unseen by the company, a pair of glittering eyes watched from a mirror, and saw all.

_So, they would deny me my vengeance? No matter. I am patient; I can wait._

Far above Erebor, a star seemed to fall to the west.

**Author's Note:**

> I left the dwarf court unnamed because I wasn't exact sure where to set this part of the story. The elven court remains unnamed at the moment, to avoid spoilers.
> 
> Translations:  
> gimlel - star of stars (Khuzdul)


End file.
